''Ancient Domains of Mystery'', also known as ''ADOM'', is a "{{Roguelike}}" game, characterized by:

* ASCII text for the 'graphics'.* Permanent character death. When you die, that's it. [[FinalDeath Your saved game is deleted and your player-character (PC) ceases to exist]] ([[SaveScumming unless you copy the save file to another folder]]).* Randomly-generated locations and encounters.* Turn-based movement. That cyclops that's standing there, arm raised to squash you with a thrown boulder? She'll stay like that, not attacking, not doing a thing, for a minute, an hour, even a year, waiting for you to press a key and make your move. This gives you time to plan, check your inventory, bite your nails over your empty inventory, crap yourself, attack, run away, et cetera. (Yes, it is usually done InThatOrder.)* Extensive customization. The different races and classes, the sheer variety of equipment you can find, and the ways that you can use them.

Unusually for roguelikes, ADOM features a fair amount of story in the form of a manual and a detailed world to explore. The game takes place in the world of Ancardia, which is being invaded from another dimension by beings known as the Forces of Chaos. Their inherent wrongess have a [[TheCorruption corrupting effect]] on the world, turning people and animals into monsters, screwing up the weather, etc. A sage named Khelavaster has discovered that the source of Chaos' invasion of Ancardia is in a remote mountain range, the Drakalor Chain. Determined to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, he went there to stop the invasion and never came back, followed by hundreds of other wannabe heroes. The player is one of them.

A major feature is TheCorruption, which grants the player various mutations that can be either [[CursedWithAwesome beneficial]] or downright harmful. Another feature setting it apart from other roguelikes is the KarmaMeter, which determines several NPC's reactions and which of the MultipleEndings are available.

Find it [[http://www.adom.de here]]. A sequel called ''ADOM II: Legends of Ancardia'' has been released, and can be found [[http://www.ancientdomainsofmystery.com/ here]], but it's still a work in progress. In addition, a crowd-funded campaign to give more updates to ADOM I was [[http://www.indiegogo.com/resurrect-adom-development very successful]] so has received updates in the near future, and a a release on Steam.

[[http://ancardia.wikia.com/wiki/ADOM_Wiki Fulfills the]] WikiRule.

----!!Trope examples

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: [=FoLlOwErS oF ChAoS sPeAk LiKe ThIs=].[[note]]And so will you, once sufficiently corrupted.[[/note]]* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: The guidebook has all kinds of abbreviations that make it downright illegible unless you read the compiled list of acronyms and abbreviations. The lists of characteristics for the various pieces of equipment in the appendices are detailed ''only'' in shorthand.* ActionBomb: All the flavours of vortices attack by exploding into a massive ball of acid/fire/etc, if their target is in melee range. This is as unhealthy as it sounds. [[spoiler:They can't explode in the dark in 1.1.1.]]* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Yes and no. [[InfiniteStockForSale Shops have finite inventories]] (randomly generated), and if you change your mind after selling them something, you can buy it back... provided you have enough extra cash to meet their higher sell price.* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: [[spoiler:The Chaos dimension,]] along with the top level of the Tower of Eternal Flames, level 66 of the Infinite Dungeon, and bottom of the Scintillating Cave.* ArcherArchetype: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Archer]] class. Their phenomenal ability with arrows and stealth allows them to routinely decimate enemy hordes from a position of safety, while the rest of their abilities (such as melee combat and magic use) are fairly good, making for one of the most powerful classes in the game.* ArmorPiercingAttack: There is a weapon called a ''phase dagger'' that completely ignores the armour of the target. The downside is that on each hit, the game throws at you a message about you easily cutting through the armour, which requires you to press [more] much more often. And the dagger itself doesn't do much damage anyway, making it useful only against {{heavily armored mook}}s.** Also, any missile with the "penetrating" prefix or weapon with the "of penetration" suffix. [[HehHehYouSaidX Hur hur hur.]]* ArtifactOfDoom: [[spoiler:The Chaos Orbs contain powerful magic, but the player is corrupted upon using them. There are many other artifacts that qualify; some literally "doom" the player, some corrupt the player merely by carrying them around, some do both and curse themselves on equipping to make it as hard as possible to get rid of them.]]* ArtifactTitle: Averted. When it initially had only one dungeon, ADOM stood for ''Advanced Dungeons of Mystery'', and a couple of versions later for '''''Ancient''''' ''Dungeons of Mystery''. In version 0.9.0, where the overworld was implemented, the title was changed to the current ''Ancient'' '''''Domains''''' ''of Mystery''.* ArtificialGill: Several items, most commonly helmets of water breathing and the autocursing ring of the fish (although you need two unless you bless one). As of version 1.2.0, also provided by a corruption.* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Avatars of Order or Balance must have been Chaotic at one point to get the Medal and Crown of Chaos. Then they have to change alignment to their chosen state and get the Trident of the Red Rooster.]]* AwesomeButImpractical: Quite a few class powers sound powerful but are really nerfed by other costs. For instance, the monk's level 6 power is a [[HurricaneKick circular kick]], but kicking is one of the weaker attacks in the game and the power costs 2500 energy points to use. In other words, anything you don't manage to kill with the attack gets at least 2-3 free hits on you.** The ''Wish'' spell also counts, due to it taking so long to [[strike:cast]] learn and cast that the PC will often starve to death in the attempt. Said spell normally takes at least '''3000PP''' to cast -- even level 50 wizards can't cast it without [[LevelGrinding grinding stats]] and flat-out abusing the game mechanics. Oh, and casting it drains a random stat by 10. One SelfImposedChallenge is to [[http://ancardia.wikia.com/wiki/Archmage raise a character that can cast it at will]].** Moloch armor gives a ''massive'' bonus to your PV as well as fire immunity, but it weighs so much that most players won't even be able to ''lift'' it without Strength of Atlas or some other extreme strength boost. In addition, it massively cuts your DV, Dexterity, and speed, meaning that pretty much anything with penetrating attacks can cut you to ribbons.* TheBadGuyWins: One of the bonus endings for chaotics.* BareFistedMonk: You can play monks as the standard, unencumbered fast-moving fighter, [[http://adomguides.blogspot.com/2008/05/guide-to-being-monk-by-molach.html but there's more than one way to play a fighter in this game]]. [[GoodOldFisticuffs Beastfighters]] are similar, but [[http://adomguides.blogspot.com/2009/03/guide-to-being-beastfighter-by-molach.html more restrictive]].* BeefGate: Comes in weak, strong, and instant death varieties.* BeautyEqualsGoodness: To a certain degree of good. As of version 1.2.0, having an appearance score above 10 increases the amount of corruption required to gain another corruption. Because most of the corruptions penalize appearance, this means that corruptions cause a cumulative acceleration of how quickly the character gets corruptions.* BlackoutBasement: The Gremlin Cave, which has water traps. You've seen the [[Film/{{Gremlins}} film]], so you can imagine the [[ExplosiveBreeder problems]]. However, anyone who knows the Light spell can have ''fun''.* BladeOnAStick: Halberds and spears.* BlessedWithSuck: Most of the Chaos mutations are like this. Poisoning everything you touch is great for combat, but not as good when you are trying to eat lunch...** CursedWithAwesome: On the other hand, a few of the corruptions have minor drawbacks, such as [[RedRightHand becoming horrendously ugly]] -- which, of course, [[NightmareFetishist is subjective]].** Several non-corruption character traits are also double-edged -- [[PowerIncontinence randomly teleporting]] is overrated, and even invisibility has its (minor) downsides.* BodyHorror: The protagonist gets ~18 corruption stages, while [=NPC=]s transform into hideous chaos mutants without warning.* BonusBoss: Several, as with the optional dungeons. Also note that while not every powerful NPC is hostile, everyone is (theoretically) killable.* BonusDungeon: Quite a few of them. There are several that you are required to visit for special endings, but are otherwise optional and present goodies. Always-optional dungeons include the Gremlin Cave, the Pyramid, and the Minotaur Maze.* BoringButPractical: The Farmer doesn't have the cool powers of the other classes, but carrying more stuff, needing to eat less, picking better herbs, gaining marks in polearms (the most balanced weapon class) faster than anyone else and making their own rations are all useful.** The Monk's class powers tend towards this. Reduced movement energy cost, the ability to smash walls by kicking them, and the ability to swap positions with ''any'' monster instantly aren't flashy, but are extraordinarily useful.* BossInMookClothing / KingMook: ''All the time''. Essentially, most monsters whose name begins/ends with in 'greater', 'king', 'emperor', or, Andor Drakon help you, an ''[[NominalImportance actual]]'' name.** Emperor liches cast various nasty spells, including Death Ray and confusion, summon loads of monsters as meat shields, are immune to most mindcraft powers due to being undead, see invisible and have a paralyzing touch.** Great Wyrms are ancient really powerful dragons. They can cast spells unlike lesser dragons, and are immune to their respective element (ice, acid, lighting or cold). Special mention goes to Great Karmic Wyrms, which are immune to ''all four'' elements, making most magic useless against them. Plus, they are karmic beings, meaning that hitting them in melee makes the player unluckier with each hit.** {{Parodied}} in [[http://poro.tontut.fi/~adom/mkoddd/masterk.html this page]], which describes a NinjaPirateZombieRobot monster with an OverlyLongName and all of the [[ThatOneAttack most notorious abilities]] of various monsters.** Doppleganger kings have identical speed and defense power to your character, making them hard to hit and run away from, and do about ten times as much damage as you.* BraggingRightsReward: True Strength, the best artifact girdle in the game, can only be gotten by reaching [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the fiftieth level of the main dungeon]] without ever committing an unlawful act. Not only is this ridiculously hard for normal endings and nigh-impossible for the others, but it's past a PointOfNoReturn so you can't use it for anything else, and chances are that if you've made it this far, you're ready for the horrors of D:50. Also, if you commit a chaotic act while wearing the girdle, it will squeeze you to death.* BreakableWeapons: One reason artifacts are so useful is their [[UnbreakableWeapons immunity to damage]].* BrokenRecord: The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! [[labelnote:more...]]You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! The magic missile bounces! You are hit by the magic missile! You die...[[/labelnote]]* BrutalBonusLevel: There's several.** The first one, the Pyramid, is only accessible to characters between levels 13 and 16, and sees you trying to defeat the mummy lord Rehetep for his ankh and wrappings. By ADOM standards, it's fairly tame.** The Bug-Infested Temple is a big step up from the Pyramid. It's packed with LightningBruiser greater claw bugs and killer bugs, both of which are tremendously fast, always punch through armor, and dish out huge numbers of attacks per turn.** The Minotaur Maze is a seven-level maze complex packed with traps, false walls, extremely powerful minotaurs, and false ''levels''. Most players skip it, as it's unusually challenging even by ADOM standards.** Finally, there's the Quickling Tree. It requires two specific corruptions to enter and puts an extremely harsh weight limit on your inventory. Very few people ever bother with it, as the main reward is the Boots of Great Speed, an artifact that gives you a massive speed boost, but also dooms, curses, and corrupts.* TheCameo: You can meet Hawkslayer from ''Bard's Tale III'' [[spoiler:and recruit him as your companion if your PC knows the secret password]].* CastFromHitPoints: Not a good idea unless your life is on the line, because it abuses your permanent stats (resulting in potential stat drain). Necessary for an [[RealityWarper archmage]], however.* ChestMonster: The perennial mimic. Annoyingly, for whatever reason there tends to be one in the shop on the Dwarven City level of the Caverns of Chaos -- many player characters have died in what one would normally believe to be a safe zone.* ClingyCostume: Any cursed item that is wielded/worn. This is why scrolls of uncursing and holy water are precious.** And woe to the player who finds "trapped" armor, which uncursing will not remove...* ClingyMacGuffin: The si. It has a few uses, though.* CommonplaceRare: Hang on to any potions of water you find: you'll need them to bless items and make blank scrolls for magical writing sets.* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted by the Tower of Eternal Flames; a low-level PC who wanders in unwittingly is liable to be rapidly cooked by the extreme temperatures.* TheCorruption: The encroaching Chaos is warping and corrupting the creatures in the lower levels of the dungeons. As the Player Character dives into them, it starts to affect them too, manifesting as "Corruptions". Some of the corruptions make the game more difficult, some are useful, and having too many results in a [[BodyHorror rather nasty]] [[NonstandardGameOver death]].* CripplingOverspecialization: Foes such as Diamond Golems, Molochs, and the named Chaos Knight are immensely powerful in melee, with the first two always penetrating armor and the latter hitting with 8 (poisoning!) attacks each turn. Their [[CloseRangeCombatant total reliance on melee]], however, leaves them vulnerable to being whittled down with ranged attacks. Don't rely on this weakness for Titans and Greater Titans, though, who can turn the tables with deadly eternium bolts.* CrypticConversation: Yggaz the Fool and the Mad Minstrel do this. Also the fortune cookies, which may or may not be flat-out lying to you. (Also, many quest hints you get in conversation are pretty cryptic too.)* CycleOfHurting:** One of the most useful spells is Magic Missile. It's very cheap to cast, spellbooks for it are very common, it can kill many enemies at once, its range increases when trained, and it bounces off walls (so you can kill monsters in positions that other spells and throwable weapons can't reach). However, it's common for a player to make a typo and cast the spell towards a wall at a 180 angle in a narrow corridor. The spell will then hit the player and bounce off the opposite wall, hit the player again and bounce off the first wall again... Essentially, the spell will bounce and rebounce, always hitting the player inbetween, until it has reached its maximum range - at this point the character is usually dead. He's forced to watch a long cycle of messages about the Magic Missile rebouncing and hitting him, his HP steadily sinking, unable to do anything about it.** Similarly, getting paralyzed by a monster results in an endless series of messages of the monster hitting you, and the player can't control his character. On the other hand paralyzation is much less likely to result in death if the character is strong.* DamnYouMuscleMemory: One horrible example within the game itself: saving the game and quitting the game are "shift+s" and "shift+q" respectively, and have the same "y/n" prompt after. Late at night, when cognitive functions take a backseat, players may lose very promising characters for no reason other than their own carelessness. Which is really no different from anything else in the game.* DegradedBoss: Played with. The skeletal king guarding an item in the Tomb of the High Kings is actually also a rare monster spawn. It only appears randomly late in the game though, so the player is likely to see the guaranteed boss one first.* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "You start to eat the gnoll corpse (rotten). You have finished eating the gnoll corpse (rotten). This meat tastes rotten."** Averted with special Halberds of Defense; since special weapons can't receive modifying prefixes or suffixes, a Halberd of Defense of Defense can't exist. This can lead to confusion however, as regular halberds ''can'' obtain the "of defense" suffix. * DescriptionPorn: Many of the monster descriptions, in particular the bosses.* DevelopersForesight: Has its [[DevelopersForesight/AncientDomainsOfMystery own page]] from the sheer prevalence of this trope.* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Required for the [[MultipleEndings Special endings]]. Even a regular ending gives you plenty of opportunity to shine against some pretty horrifying stuff.* [[DodgeTheBullet Dodge the Arrow]]: Archers somehow have the ability to dodge missiles; instead of dropping at your feet when they miss, they fly on past.* DragonHoard: There's an underwater one, guarded by a female water dragon. Trying to pick up an item there will make her warn you, and ignoring her will result in her trying to kill you.* Dual Wielding: The Two Weapon Combat skill lets you do this effectively, although the inability to use shields is a deterrent. Dual wielding the artifact daggers Sting and Needle greatly increases the damage and accuracy of each.* EarlyBirdBoss: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Keethrax, the evil druid]], one of the two options for your first quest. He's high level, corrupts by hit, immune to fire, ice, and lightning, and a [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards druid]], at that.** [[spoiler: His level adjusts to that of the PC, but as higher level [=PC=]s are generally better equipped and have more HP, one will have an easier time at level 12 than level 8]].* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Version 0.2.0 is fascinating to play. There is no overworld, only the main dungeon exists, there are no colours, and the way rooms and corridors are drawn resembles ''VideoGame/NetHack''.* EasterEgg: Press '&' to open the monster memory, and type in "Thomas Biskup".* EldritchAbomination: The Chaos creatures that are invading Ancardia. These range from living blobs of pure Chaos and corrupted animals to big powerful demons like the Orb Guardians and Balors. Shifting features, reality distortion and BodyHorror are commonly mentioned in their descriptions.* ElementalPunch: The Burning Hands spell (Baptism of Fire for religious classes) is essentially a fire-elemental melee attack... that never misses. It also gets stronger and slightly cheaper to cast as you use it.* EnemyScan: Stethoscopes reveal a surprising lot.** Inverted by the Insight spell, as well as potions of insight, which reveals hidden information about the ''player character''. This actually makes sense because the player can gain new abilities from various sources, such as corpses, pools and items, without knowing it.* EnemySummoner: Quite a lot, with the summoned things sometimes being able to summon as well.* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Let's see: Swimming? Drowns you in four turns unless you have the right item or skill. Walking in the forest or mountains? RandomEncounters, plus starvation. Doors? Trapped. Any wild animal, including rodents? Will fight you to the death, [[GangUpOnTheHuman even while ignoring other human [=NPC=]s such as swordsmen.]] Merely walking around in dungeons? ''[[TheCorruption Gradually turns you into]] [[BodyHorror a twisted mockery of yourself]]''.** "Suddenly a stone block falls on your head. You die."*** Only an early-game killer. Even a mildly experienced PC usually has too many hitpoints (at full health) to be instantly killed by these traps - though they may leave you very low on hitpoints in the middle of a dungeon filled with monsters.** You can be killed by ''"trying too hard to become a great writer"'' (using a magical writing set).*** In the same manner, doing alchemy wrong will kill you (and doing it right will still probably kill you), even with completely mundane ingredients, such as mixing as a potion of carrot juice with a potion of water (or ''two potions of water''), resulting in a [[MadeOfExplodium vast explosion]].** When walking around the wilderness, rain can rust your equipment and drench any scrolls or spellbooks you own. It'll even make you sick if you don't have a hood/hooded cloak.** Even the ''date'' you're playing the game on can be lethal.* EvilSorcerer: Keethrax, the black druid; Nonnak, the master necromancer; Yulgash, the Master Summoner; Nuurag Vaarn, the Chaos Archmage. Plus all the dark sages and lich variants running around. Be very afraid.** YOU can also be an EvilSorcerer if you want. If you really want to be evil, you can [[KickTheDog kick the cute puppy to death]] and then laugh at the girl who just wants her dog back (after eating the puppy's corpse as she watches, no less). And then fry everyone in the village with lightning bolts.* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Tower of Eternal Flames. Also the Infinite Dungeon.* ExplosiveBreeder: Worms of any kind and jellies should be killed before they have the chance to multiply. Kill them all. ''Kill''. '''Kill'''. Sorry, flashback.** There are also gremlins, which are not that dangerous but which spawn explosively when they (or their furballs) touch water (naturally, there is a cave of them filled with water traps). Even worse than the gremlins, though, are the [[KillerRabbit battle bunnies]]; they only appear on one level, but they reproduce faster than anything else in the game as long as Bugs the Bunny Master is alive. They're also immune to scrolls of vermin control.* ExtremelyDustyHome: The Dusty Dungeon Level (DDL) and the level below it, Very Dusty Dungeon Level (VDDL). They are pretty much InformedAttribute however, as the description doesn't affect gameplay.* ExtremeOmnivore: By the end of the game, your PC will have munched his way through half of Ancardia's [[ImAHumanitarian human]], humanoid and animal population for the various [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity resistances]], the stat boosts, or just because they were hungry. Usually raw corpses, if they don't have the Cooking skill.** You can even eat your own clone (in the form of a doppelganger), if you're hungry enough. *burp*** Some races are pickier than others. Trolls are the least picky; they will eat anything, at any time.* FallenHero: [[spoiler: The Ultimate Chaos God ending requires you to be Lawful or Neutral, to get the Trident of the Red Rooster, but to finish the game with fully Chaotic alignment.]]* {{Fauxshadow}}: The [[spoiler: Red Rooster Inn, where you can find the Scroll of Omnipotence]] was first referenced in-game ''six or seven years'' before WordOfGod finally admitted that it was a RedHerring.* FinalBossNewDimension* FinalDeath: "Do you want to [g] generate a new character?" ...*sigh* ''[[JustOneMoreLevel Yes]]''.* FiveRaces: Averted. Stock humans, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]], orcs and {{h|obbits}}urthlings, but there are also gnomes, [[OurElvesAreDifferent four flavours of elves]] and the ability to play as a [[LizardFolk drakeling]], troll, or ratling. They all have unique specialities, and playing Drakelings and Trolls in particular present significant gameplay differences.** Drakelings are great. Having the racial ability to ''spit acid'' at the cost of satiation can be a lifesaver.** The other fun thing about the reptilian Drakelings is that when they're exposed to fire, ''their speed goes up.''*** On the other hand, Drakelings [[spoiler: can never become completely immune to fire. The mandatory trip to a flaming tower still causes injury from your severely overclocked metabolism, even with equipment that would make other races immune.]] Too much of a good thing, indeed. Also, the flip side of speeding up when things get hot: Drakelings do indeed slow down when exposed to cold.* FragileSpeedster: Quicklings sport extreme Speed and DV, but pathetic defense makes them fall quickly once a strong attack (often magic) lands. Quickling Queens make matters much worse by [[StandardStatusEffects poisoning]] on successful melee hits. Stacking counts of poison, no less.* FromACertainPointOfView: Gauntlets of peace make it a lot harder to hit things. [[spoiler:And autocurse.]]* FromBadToWorse: The first three levels of the [[LethalLavaLand Tower of Eternal Flames]] are hard enough, what with the constant fire damage, melting equipment, and monsters that are hard to take out in melee. You thought THAT was bad? The fourth level is ''hotter'', blocks teleportation, and [[spoiler: requires you to dig through a lot of solid wall to reach a horde of resilient fire elementals and demons, and THEN you can fight the boss, who sees through invisibility and uses [[TheCorruption corrupting attacks]], confusion, stat drain, high-intensity beam attacks, and has huge hitpoints and melee damage output.]]* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler: True berserk, a slightly hidden game mechanic. Not wearing any armor (except of rage) while berserk damage and hit chance even further! It also removes the warning about accidentally attacking friendlies.]]* GameFavoredGender: Arguably females have an advantage in ADOM for a few reasons such as having access to an extra SideQuest, receiving cheaper keys from a certain merchant and in general having an easier time with stores due to relying on Appearance instead of Charisma for shop prices; Gray Elves for example start with a Charisma score of 8 and Appearance of 18 and increasing Charisma is far more difficult overall. That said, males do have an extra option to deal with the very lethal Banshee and unlike females the massive Appearance penalties caused by most corruptions doesn't affect them.* GladiatorSubquest: The fights in The Arena are this. Beating the reigning champion in the 20th fight gives you the Golden Gladius, which isn't spectacular as a weapon but can be traded for the desired Tactics skill.* [[spoiler:AGodIsYou]]: If you dare, if you've solved all the (optional) puzzles to gain the right equipment, and if your character is sufficiently badass.* GoMadFromTheRevelation: {{Downplayed}}. Just standing in front of the Chaos Gate and catching a glimpse of the [[EldritchLocation Chaos dimension]] can make you [[StandardStatusEffects heavily confused]] (the closest thing to being insane in this game). Played somewhat straighter with the {{IBM}} manuals, which will ''permanently'' confuse anyone who reads them.* TheGoomba: The game tries to avert this by making enemies stronger the more of them you kill, but it's rather buggy in the most recent release.** Monsters also get stronger the deeper into the dungeons you go. A goblin a few hundred levels down in the infinite dungeon is as dangerous as any endgame monster.* GraveHumor* GrimyWater: Do NOT swim in the red water -- and beware of confusion that could make you stumble into it. Learning how to get across it is just one of the many mini-puzzles the game presents you with.* GuideDangIt: If you aren't spoiled, it's twice as rewarding and three times as frustrating. This also applies to nearly all of the side quests; read the [[http://www.adomgb.info/ ADOM Guidebook]]'s appendix on them for the sake of your blood pressure.** One example: [[spoiler: do you remember the first monster you killed? No? No Ultra Ending for you, then!]][[note]]That particular key doesn't disappear, so it can be found by brute-force searching if you're thorough.[[/note]]** And figuring out what to do with a certain dying sage...* HealingFactor: [[PlayerCharacter [=PC=]s]] born in the month of Candle already inherently heal faster than Healing at 100 would let you. Trolls heal the fastest of all races. Being a healer has self-explanatory benefits. What happens when you roll up a Candle-born Trollish Healer? Near ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}-class HealingFactor! Especially since healers double, then triple their HP recovery at [[MagikarpPower level 6 and 12]].** Not enough? Start collecting items. You can wear [[spoiler: a crown of regeneration, the artifact amulet Preserver, bracers of regeneration, two rings of regeneration on your hands and one in the missile slot and wield two knives of endurance. That's eight HP healed 'per turn' through items alone.]]*** Still not enough? One of the {{c|ursedWithAwesome}}orruptions grants another layer of HealingFactor. Don't forget to actually kill your enemies though.* HeavilyArmoredMook: Some of the monsters have so high armor that they can be barely scratched with normal attacks.* HellGate: [[spoiler:The Chaos Gate, which allows the forces of chaos to invade Ancardia. Closing it is the main goal for most player characters.]]* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Shooting a [[ProjectileSpell Magic Missile]] in a narrow corridor? [[TooDumbToLive Bad idea]]. Chances are, a typo makes you cast it straight at the wall, so it constantly rebounds at you and hits you again and again and again until you're dead.** There is a spell called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Death Ray]]. It also bounces off walls.* HumanoidAbomination: In the Steam version, [[spoiler:[[TrueFinalBoss Andor Drakon]] is shown as a fairly young EvilSorcerer with glowing purple eyes...and tentacles instead of feet.]]* HumansAreAverage* ImplacableMan: There is an Eternal Guardian guarding a staircase somewhere in the middle of the main dungeon, [[NPCRoadblock preventing progress]] until completing a certain task. If you try to lure him from the stairs by attacking him, or even manage to kill him, an even stronger version of him will instantly materialise on the stairs. Screw up and you have multiple copies fighting against you.* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[ShopliftAndDie Angry shopkeepers]] can one-shot-kill players with [[ImprobableWeaponUser a single coin]].* ImprovisedWeapon: You can use ''anything'' as a melee or projectile weapon, including clothes and scrolls. There are challenges, for example, to get through the game wielding a rock or an anvil.* InfiniteFlashlight: The very rare everburning torch never runs out of fuel unlike normal torches.* InfinityMinusOneSword: Lots.** The Rune-Covered Trident has good damage stats, comes with several useful intrinsics, and returns when thrown. The only downside is that unless you have a specific birthsign, you won't get it until level 36.** The Axe of the Minotaur Emperor is the most powerful weapon in the game, outdamaging even the mighty Trident of the Red Rooster. On the downside, it's incredibly heavy and tends to induce nasty defensive penalties.* InfinityPlusOneElement: Magic Missile can be useful in ways that the elemental bolt spells aren't. It's cheap to use. There is no elemental immunity to it. It doesn't destroy loot that has been dropped on the ground. It bounces off walls, letting you shoot people around corners. It won't make you unlucky if you attack a nonhostile or Karmic enemy.** Acid. Nothing is weak to acid, but very few things resist/are immune to it, and acid spells have the highest damage.* InfinityPlusOneSword: [[spoiler:The Trident of the Red Rooster]] is probably the best artifact in the game. It's also required for one of the ultra endings and is a huge GuideDangIt.* InUniverseGameClock: Time runs far faster when you travel in the overworld because it's a zoomed-out representation of a large area. (And you do need to keep track of the time or date for several quests: ctrl-E tells you how much time has (E)lapsed since you first set out. Though it's easier to use Alt-q or "@" to check character details.)* ItemCrafting: You can make your own crossbow bolts or arrows, and improve metal armour and weapons, with the right skills and the raw materials.* JokeCharacter: The Chaos Knight. You start out corrupted, most [=NPC=]s range from unhelpful to hostile whenever you play to type (forcing you to [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption murder your way past most of the quests]]), and if you convert from Chaos to another alignment, you lose all class powers and suffer from a burning gut until you die or fall back to Chaos. To drive the point home, [[spoiler: you can't get a normal ending either, unless you're redeemed; if you close the [=ChAoS=] Gate, you're immediately zorched for being a moron. If you ''are'' redeemed, you still perish, but at least it's a HeroicSacrifice.]]** Merchants count as well; while they don't have the unique disadvantages of Chaos Knights, they also don't have their great starting equipment, stats, or class powers. Merchants start out dismally underpowered, with lousy equipment and class powers focused mostly around non-combat use.* JokeItem: The si -- an artifact that multiplies, and cannot be gotten rid of easily.** Actually it may be considered a [[LethalJokeItem lethal joke item]], as you have a supply of renewable projectiles as well as sacrifice fodder for your god. Even more mundanely, the sis make excellent VendorTrash. The "you can't get rid of it" applies to an area that you can never return to (e.g. the Infinite level dungeon which generates a different level each time you move up or down a floor).** Potion of Stun Recovery, Scroll of Cure Blindness and the potion of uselessness which has [[LethalJokeItem a single real use, for which your god rewards you.]]** And then there's the Scroll of Literacy Check. "If you can read this, you must be pretty good!" (If your Literacy skill is not above 90, it'll read "f u ...")** The Black Tome of Alsophocus can let you learn any spell in the game; pro. You can't pick, and you're locked in place while you read it; con. There's a chance you can learn a big spell like Death Ray; pro. It corrupts you when used OR carried; con. Most players leave it where it is, or use it as fodder in the main quest.** The Boots of Great Speed give you a whopping ''+100'' speed boost. That's the only good thing about them; they curse and doom you when you put them on, and wearing or even carrying them corrupts you rapidly. Being located at the end of the [[BrutalBonusLevel Quickling Tree]] doesn't help them at all.* KaizoTrap: [[spoiler: So, you switched the Trident of the Red Rooster to another weapon in order to kill the TrueFinalBoss more easily - and he drops dead. Think you've won? Wrong. The AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield swarms you and turns you into a miserable chaos wretch on the spot.]]* KarmaMeter: This is how the CharacterAlignment works, essentially removing the "does/doesn't play by rules" axes on the graph. Some quests can only be accepted if you're Lawful/Chaotic.** Killing even a single feline of any type makes an enemy of a powerful NPC, causing many to refer to them as [[GoddamnBats "those damn cats."]] [[invoked]]* KarmicDeath: Don't eat the corpses of cute little helpless things (eg dwarven children, the tiny girl's puppy). Also, think very hard about attacking obviously good (Lawful) people. Some of them are very, very good at defending themselves. Or have extremely nasty friends who will kick your ass.* KillItWithIce: Naturally, the easiest way to get through the Tower of Eternal Flames. [[ThatOneLevel Still not very easy, though.]]* KillItWithFire: Remember these words when you find the Temple of Elemental Water.* KillItWithWater: Specifically, holy water. Use it on the undead for a OneHitKill.* KleptomaniacHero: Almost anything can be useful, so it makes sense to pick up different things. Even a "scroll of cure blindness" (which can be turned into a blank scroll by dipping it in water) or a "potion of uselessness" ([[spoiler:which can be thrown to propel yourself on the [[SlippySlideyIceWorld icy level]] of the Caverns of Chaos, resulting in an impressed deity giving you an artifact.]])* LastChanceHitPoint: While ADOM generally doesn't care a whole lot about mercy, depending on your luck and mana stat you may occasionally find yourself surviving an overwhelmingly lethal blow with a single hit point.* TheLegionsOfHell: The Forces of Chaos are pretty much [[{{Expy}} this game's version]] of them.* LethalLavaLand: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Tower of Eternal Flames]].* LethalJokeCharacter: Bards don't have a set skill sheet - every time you roll up a bard, they get a random selection of skills. If you have the patience to roll and re-roll a Bard, you can create a fantastic set of skills. Combine that with excellent class powers and a great Heir gift, and you have a potentially devastating class.* LethalJokeItem: [[spoiler:The potion of Uselessness. Really. If you apply the rules for Conservation of Momentum near the end of the game, the gods reward you with a free artifact for your cleverness.]]* LevelDrain: Well, Stat Drain. Certain enemies and bosses can permanently reduce your attributes with their melee attacks.* LevelGrinding: There are useful benefits to gaining a level. You're still not safe (you're NEVER safe), but you're less likely to die without warning. The game tries to avert this by refusing to give experience for killing more than a certain number of a creature, and by making creatures more powerful the more of them you kill. And just don't go to the small dungeon near the start at more than a few levels, because it gets harder as you get tougher, except ''much'' faster. (Although with enough resources at a sufficiently high level, particularly the ability to teleport when and where you like, it can become bearable again to at least run through.)* LevelScaling: The more of a single creature you kill the more powerful that type of creature gets. Gets fun when dealing with enemy summoners.* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: ** Played straight, but... Since any spells you learn are completely dependent upon you finding their (very fragile) spell books, a wizard may be forced to become a MagicKnight. Yes, a wizard with a few elemental bolt spells will be able to fry legions of {{Mooks}} with one hand tied behind his back, but he'd do better to save those spells and use the mooks for training his weapon skill in anticipation of an artifact. Elementalists are similar in that a lot of later monsters are [[WeaksauceWeakness immune to fire and ice]].** Subverted by the TrueFinalBoss.* LizardFolk: Drakelings, one of the PC races.** There are also regular old savage lizardmen. The Drakelings insist they are not related.* LockedDoor: Plenty to go around. Kicking them down is the simplest way to get through, but watch out for traps...* LookOverThere: The Ventriloquism skill.* LuckBasedMission: Drinking from pools. You might get wishes or good intrinsics like death ray resistance or teleport control, or you might just get cursed, doomed, or sprayed with water and snakes.* LuckStat: The Mana attribute.* MacGuffinGuardian: Sometimes there's a random artifact guarded by a tougher-than-normal named monster in an otherwise completely normal level.* MagicKnight: Any magic-using class will eventually have to start doing this but the Paladin, with their good weapon skills and decent casting abilities, especially excels at this.* MagikarpPower: Monks gain the (undocumented) power to kick down walls at level 13. Not that useful in combat, but there's plenty of uses for a never-breaking, no-weight intrinsic pickaxe, including making [[ItemCrafting smithing]] more practical.* MakeAWish: Can be attained through rings of djinni summoning, magical pools or wands of wishing. You can wish for any non-unique item or monster, or even for abstract things like friends and wealth.* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Overlaps with DevelopersForesight. Kicking a stairway can cause the entire level to collapse, resulting in instant death. Kicking an empty space or wall causes damage to the PC, and this damage can kill you if you're trying hard enough to do it. Doomed [=PC=]s have something on the order of a 1-in-50 chance per turn of being [[DarknessEqualsDeath eaten by a grue if they're in a dark space]]. The list goes on, and on, and on.** A particularly rockstar one -- ''choking to death on your own vomit''. [[spoiler:Suffer an attack of fever whilst Sick and Paralyzed.]]** There's also a death by exploding frog...* MercyRewarded: Leading the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Brainwashed and]] AxCrazy village carpenter to a healer benefits you far more than killing him, including learning the essential Healing skill.** Finding the baby water dragon's mother nets you an excellent artifact weapon...eventually.** [[spoiler: Also, the [[GoddamnBats Goddamn Cats.]]]] [[invoked]]** [[spoiler: And giving a (very rare) amulet of life saving to Khelavaster will grant you the [[InfinityPlusOneSword best weapon in the game.]] [[ChainOfDeals Eventually]].]]* MetalSlime: Giant boars, oy. Required for the ultra endings, sadly.* MightyGlacier: Molochs, Greater Molochs, and the Emperor Moloch compensate for their poor speeds with extremely powerful, penetrating melee attacks. Their regenerative abilities don't help matters.* TheMinionMaster: This is the main skill of necromancers; bards can be played like this too, although having too many followers at once may result in them jealously attacking one another.* MinMaxing: Apart from the Troll healer above, there are few moderately game-breaking min-max builds. Some race/class combinations do give you advantages because their abilities and stats stack, but it's less "OMG cheat" and more "give your PC the best start". Besides, stats are usually assigned randomly or semi-randomly.** Having said that, gnome or hurthling classes with high mana are likely to start with enough talents to acquire Treasure Hunter (increases amount of equipment [[RandomDrop randomly dropped]]) at level 1.*** There is more than one way to start with three or more talents. The maximum number is ''six'' talents, for which you have to be a hurthling or gnome farmer, bard or merchant with 17+ Mana, Candle or Falcon as starsign, and some completely unrelated luck (you get a bonus talent if the sum total of your stats is divisible by 7). This would allow you to get Treasure Hunter and the truly game-breaking SevenLeagueBoots, at level 1. Yet - while gunning for extra talents is one aspect of min-maxing, it rarely does more than make the start a little bit easier. Also, while in this particular case you maxed the crap out of your running speed, you sadly happened to min your combat prowess.** Troll barbarians will have massive strength and toughness, but will be illiterate, ugly, clumsy, and dumb as a post.* MonsterCompendium: And with colorful descriptions to boot. Just hit &.** [[http://l.j-factor.com/misc/adom.html Here]] is a list of all monster descriptions in the game.* MultipleEndings: There are many ways to win -- some have a better outcome than others.** Even the regular ending has quite a few variations depending on your alignment and amount of corruptions.* NintendoHard: In ''VideoGame/NetHack'', there's an endless debate over being able to identify items by their unique weight because it makes the game easier. In ''ADOM'' it's an almost necessary survival tactic. Unfair GameBreaker debates start at far worse.* NoFairCheating: By all means, try and change something in a saved game via hex editing. All enemies will suddenly max out in levels, and your equipment will randomly disappear for the rest of the game; which is not going to be very long.** There's more than one way to skin a cat; at least up until the latest version. Instead of the saved game, modify the temp files.*** Or go obtain a value editor and mod the game as you play it.* NominalImportance: If you ever meet a hostile ''named'' monster, or anything referred to as "the", run away with your precious life. It's almost definitely a BossInMookClothing ([[MacGuffinGuardian and possibly guarding a random artifact]]).* NonstandardGameOver: Many, including [[BodyHorror being turned into a chaos beast.]]* NonStandardSkillLearning: The game is unique in regards to this trope. You only improve your existing skills by levelling up and the usual way to learn new ones is from [=NPC=]s and wishes. However, mindcrafters and elementalists learn new Mindcrafting powers and new spells, respectively, upon level up.* NoobCave: Played straight with the Village Dungeon and Druid Dungeon, averted with the Puppy Cave, and enforced with the Small Cave. The last one scales with your level; a level 1 character will find somewhat strong enemies, while a level 10 character will be overwhelmed with monsters he can barely scratch.* NoPointsForNeutrality: Averted; neutral characters can be of extreme alignment (N=), crowned champion of their alignment, and [[spoiler:win with an ultra ending]]* NPCRoadblock: Used by shopkeepers and one or two important {{NPC}}s. This can be turned to your advantage when you're low on health -- run into a shop, pick up something then walk around until you heal.* OneHitKill: A few monk and assassin class powers grant a very low chance to do this.** Another important example is Death magic. The good news is, players can actually obtain the Death Ray spell and use it on enemies. The bad news is, [[AwesomeButImpractical death rays usually miss except against the weakest of foes]]. The very bad news? [[spoiler: Enemy spellcasters can do it too. You better hold on to that amulet of death ray resistance.]]* OneHitPolyKill: The final class skill for Archers is the ability to hit several enemies with a single projectile.* OutlawTown: Lawenilothehl.* PaintingTheMedium:** [=tHe WaY cHaOs CrEaTuReS sPeAk, AlSo KnOwN aS "cHaOsPeAk".=]** Not to mention what the [[spoiler:Chaos Dimension]] looks like. [[spoiler:It's an entire screen filled with ASCII garbage, looking not unlike the KillScreen in ''VideoGame/PacMan''. Fitting for an ASCII game.]]* PermanentlyMissableContent:** Put off entering the Pyramid or the Minotaur Maze until you have better gear? Oops, they close up once you reach a certain level. Talked to a certain NPC who immediately died? No Ultra Ending for you! An even crueler example resides at the end of a particularly painful sidequest. After you defeat a nasty BonusBoss, you get a unique scroll to take to a NPC to get the InfinityPlusOneSword. The scroll can be destroyed like any other inventory item. If you read it, you can use a rare item to rewrite it. If you didn't... goodbye, Ultra Ending.** The [[spoiler:Sceptre of Chaos, required for Ordinary Chaos God endings,]] is found in the Infinite Dungeon's SIL - a one-time level that disappears when left. This is referenced in-game, as failing to obtain it generates a special message: "You feel you leave an essential part of [[spoiler:Chaos]] behind...forever".** In the Infinite Dungeon, finding [[spoiler:Filk the bard and leaving him alive but hostile]] prevents the player from ever completing [[spoiler:the quest to kill him, essential for an Ultra ending.]]* PlanetHeck: Features in the [[spoiler: [[MultipleEndings Ultra endings]]]].* PlotCouponThatDoesSomething: Go ahead, use one of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Chaos Orbs]] (needed to win the game) in your tool slot. [[EvilIsNotAToy We DARE you]].* PointOfNoReturn: Once you put all five Chaos Orbs into their respective anomalies, you can't leave the bottom three floors until the [=ChAoS gAtE=] is closed.* PoisonMushroom: Treat every unidentified scroll, herb and potion with caution.* PoisonousPerson: You, if you get the "Poison drips from your hands" chaos mutation. [[BlessedWithSuck It's not all it's cracked up to be]].* PoorCommunicationKills: Despite what your fortune cookie tells you, don't eat the corpse of an annis hag. Or a harpy.** And then there's [[spoiler:the IBM guild manuals, which take this to the logical extreme: reading one makes you ''permanently'' confused.]] The only thing you can do at this point is pray.* PowerupLetdown: Beastfighters can summon bears and/or silver wolves at level 25. Sounds cool, but most of the monsters you meet will be stronger than your companions by then.** Mindcrafters gain the ability to [[EnemyScan sense the number of enemies]] on a level. They later get 'Eyes of the Mind' which finally shows ''where'' they are, but only the monsters with a mind. Undead and golems (two of the nastiest classes of enemy) don't show up at all.** Most classes have one or two class powers at higher levels that are quite useless. The strongest classes tend to be those that don't.** You can get a random artifact if you pray to your god at a sufficiently high piety. You might get one of the good ones, or you might get something terrible like the Black Tome of Alsophocus or Celestrix.* PressStartToGameOver: New characters generated on a (real-life) Monday will enter the game a few hitpoints short of their total. ("You feel slightly exhausted today.") Poor character design and bad luck can result in [[OneHitpointWonder a very low hitpoint total]]. Put them together, and you might just be done before you started.* ProbabilityPileup:** One of the game mechanics is that items you've identified become slightly easier to find more of. ''Slightly''. This is partly to make it so that spellcasters can actually use their spells without worrying about permanently running out of their good spells before finding a new book.** What are the odds that a jackal kills you? Depends how many you've killed, since killing monsters makes other, future iterations of that monster slightly stronger.* PsychicPowers: The Mindcrafter class.** Also, some of the more powerful [=NPC=]s have confusion mindcraft of their own, which they will try to use on you.* PurelyAestheticGender: Though there is one difference -- {{NPC}}'s interactions with female [[PlayerCharacters [=PC=]s]] are affected by their appearance, but if they interact with males, charisma is used instead. Yup, shopkeepers are sexist.** [[spoiler:Averted by the frogs that randomly show up in pools, and by Skriek the Ratling, who gives women a 50% discount on his keys.]]** Also, females receive +1 to dexterity at game start as opposed to the male's +1 to strength. That difference is easily covered by natural variance in stats, however.* RandomDrop: Go see this game's entry there. That's all I'm saying. On the bright side, you can also find artifacts this way, though it is rare.* RedFilterOfDoom** In the top level of the Tower of Eternal Flames, everything is tinted bright red. It's a very effective effect, and really makes the place seem VERY hot.** In ADOM II, going to dangerously low HP values tints the screen red.* ReviveKillsZombie: Yes; yes it does.** Using a healing or bless spell on the undead will hurt them, as does holy water. (Though in the case of one particular quest, it's more effective to [[spoiler:pour holy water on the undead's grave]].** Throwing potions of cure corruption also dramatically weakens the [[EldritchAbomination chaos beings]].* SavingTheWorld: The ultimate goal of the game. It can be accomplished several ways, though [[spoiler: make sure that the Chaos Gate can't be re-opened if you choose to close it.]]* SchmuckBait: Oooooh boy. Combined with EverythingTryingToKillYou, the bait is endless. A few non-spoilery examples:** Not only are some items cursed, a few particularly nasty items are ''auto-cursing.'' They will scan as benign, but turn cursed as soon as you put them on. Only Greater Identify or the equivalent scroll reveals this.** Dungeons vary in difficulty, and lethal high-level ones rarely come with a warning label (other than BeefGate). Naive (or reckless) players may walk right in.** Some artifacts give you nice bonuses, tempting you to equip them, but they also quietly add to your [[TheCorruption corruption counter]], slowly turning you into a mutant freak.** Some gravestones read "Great treasures lie buried here." Dig one up at your own risk.*** It doesn't say [[spoiler:that the treasure won't be guarded]].* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: There is a trainer who can train your stats beyond the normal 20-25 points, but he requires obscene amounts of gold pieces. Combined with the casino which allows for you to [[GameBreaker easily make obscene amounts of gold pieces]], you can easily raise your stats to very high levels. Theoretically, if you win money at the casino you're forced to spend it -- and quite a bit more besides -- at the hugely overpriced casino store if you want to progress, but that can be bypassed by teleporting the guard blocking the way.** And the "Heir" talent, a hard-to-qualify-for 1st level talent that starts you off with a magic item dependent on your class. These range from specialized armor and awesome wands to the near-essential SprintShoes: SevenLeagueBoots. Very ''very'' useful for getting places before Bad Things Happen.** Did you deeply offend your deity by committing sacrilege against the very principles of your faith? Sacrifice a couple hundred grand and you're his bestest friend again.*** Subverted with [[spoiler:champion crowning]], however. You only get that once per game, no matter how many gods you impress.* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:If the Raider Lord is still alive by the time you reach level 6, he and his gang wisely decide to flee the area rather than risk facing you.]]* SelfImposedChallenge: Nearly every aspect of the game has been played to death, so there are quite a few of these. One of the most extreme was playing (and ''winning'') with a weight limit of 100s. A normal player would finish the game holding 30-50 times that much in inventory, never mind their equipment. In addition, several artifacts that are needed to complete the game each weigh 100s, so the PC had to be naked and carrying nothing else (including food, armor or weapons) while moving them to the bottom of the dungeon.** One player nearly won the entire game with a completely blind character. The only reason it wasn't finished was because there is a particular endgame action that cannot be done while blind.* ShopliftAndDie: Stealing from a shop angers the shopkeeper into summoning thugs... and going after you himself. Thrown gold pieces ''hurt''.** More like, "Gold pieces are ''lethal''." You will only ever underestimate the [[BadassNormal Casino Shopkeeper]] ''once''.* ShoutOut: Many. Notably, you can find phase daggers, moss of marelion and morgia root, which originally appeared in ''[[VideoGame/{{Zork}} Beyond Zork]]'', Creator/{{Infocom}}'s oddball text adventure/RPG hybrid.)** "They say that at times, things can get zorky."** It is also possible to find [[spoiler:[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sting]], though it doesn't shine blue if goblins are near]].** Hurthlings always start the game wearing a [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings cursed ring]].*** There are many, many, references to Lord of the Rings. Non-hostile orcs will ask you about the one ring, and black hurthlings (hobbits) will ask about their precious, and can be tamed with fish, as some other examples.** The Song of the Mad Minstrel is actually one of Creator/RobertEHoward's poems.** One of the random artifacts is [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos The Black Tome of Alsophocus]].* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Spiked boots don't work. It's also not friendly to reptiles. [[spoiler: Thankfully, it's possible to dig your way through part of it.]]* SpellBook: These can be found randomly in the dungeons, and teach a limited amount of castings upon reading. Once they have been read enough times, they disappear into thin air.* SquareRaceRoundClass: All classes are open to characters of all races, which means there are exactly 264 possible combinations. Troll thieves are just the beginning...** In fact, some of the stranger combinations (notably [[SuperTough Troll]] [[HealingFactor healers]]) are so powerful that they are canonical pairings. Even combinations whose stats are directly at odds ([[DumbMuscle Troll]] wizards or [[{{Hobbits}} Hurthling]] barbarians) can be strategically sound choices, since versatility is hard to acquire while the lack of power will eventually be compensated by experience.* TacticalDoorUse: Closing doors will stop many enemies, allowing for a breather or an easy escape. Exceptions include anything smart enough to operate a door (locking it works though) and creatures that can pass through walls, most commonly ghosts. Particularly strong creatures can smash them outright though.* TakeYourTime: [[spoiler:Inverted by TheCorruption, which will corrupt your soul faster after 90 in-game days have passed. Played straight by Khelavaster, whom you find surrounded by chaos spawn, within an inch of death... and yet if you turn back and take a few '''months''' to find an amulet of life saving, he's still standing on that same staircase, waiting for you to talk to him so he can die already. Protip: don't talk to him before giving him the amulet.]]** One way of completing both the [[ThatOneSidequest puppy and the bandit sidequest]] relies on triggering this: [[spoiler:dive down to the bottom of the Puppy Cave, dodging monsters as you go. Pop down and straight back up the bottommost staircase. This counts as getting there in time & generates a living cute dog that won't die as you're trudging around the forest in the overworld. Now all you have to do is get back out [[PacifistRun without reaching lvl. 6...]]]]* TeleportSpam: Blink dogs teleport and will summon more of their kind for help. This results in a large group of blink dogs that all teleport around the level all the time.* TempleOfDoom: The Minotaur Maze. Often skipped, due to being NintendoHard even compared to the rest of the game.* TomeOfEldritchLore: [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos The Black Tome of Alsophocus]] makes an appearance, and teaches a random spell along with a heavy amout of corruption upon reading.* TooAwesomeToUse: Almost all magical items can only be used once. Some of these are both extremely useful and extremely rare. Saving them as "last resort" commonly leads to YetAnotherStupidDeath.* TooDumbToLive: Closing the Chaos Gate as a chaotic Chaos Knight snuffs out your existence as a reward for your betrayal. The guidebook refers to it as the "Most Stupid Follower of ChAoS" ending.* TrainingFromHell: Strength can be trained by walking around everywhere while heavily burdened. It's nearly required for beefing up weak starting characters. Repeatedly using certain skills also trains them.* TryEverything: As in, "try using everything in your backpack to save yourself from a messy death".* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: If the slaves of your necromancer ever get burnt by you, even indirectly, they will get angry and try to kill you. Watch out for any fireball traps while your [[LightningBruiser quickling king lich]] is around.* UnidentifiedItems: The game has Scrolls of Identify and an Identify spell. However, whether these tools are cursed or blessed makes a world of difference. A normal scroll of identify will only identify one type of items at a time. A blessed scroll of identify will identify your entire inventory and show what items are blessed or cursed. A cursed scroll identifies a single item. There's also the Scroll of Amnesia, which will remove knowledge of most inventory items instead.* UselessUsefulSpell: Played straight by the DeathRay and [[TakenForGranite Petrification]] spells. Most of the strongest enemies are resistant, and the spells are too expensive to use on normal monsters.** The Wish spell is a nice example of this. By the time your character has the capacity to cast it, you almost certainly have everything you need to finish the game anyway, and there are few things that you can wish for that are worth the loss of 10 stat points the spell also inflicts on you.* VancianMagic: When you learn spells, you get a limited number of castings for said spell. On the other hand, your character usually learns a hundred castings or so per spell reading. Unintelligent characters learn fewer or not at all.** Also, casters have Power Points, which ALSO limit how often they can cast spells. When you run out of power points, you either stop using magic or start [[CastFromHitPoints casting from hit points.]]* VideogameCaringPotential: Panicked enemies that run away from you can be (c)hatted with and calmed down. Doing so gives you [[MercyRewarded a bit of EXP and a Lawful boost]] on your KarmaMeter.** Healing injured monsters is a fast (if risky) way of gaining Lawful alignment.** If you don't manage to save the little girl's dog in time or protect it from monsters on the way out, you may choose to spend a day playing with her to cheer her up.* VideogameCrueltyPotential: Blup the baby water dragon in the first village is looking for his mother. If you find and kill her, then tell him that you've found her, he thanks you then flies off to meet her. Also in the starting village, you can get a quest to rescue a young girl's puppy from a spooky cave. It is possible to bring said puppy back to her, and then kill it and eat it while she watches. There's also a chance the puppy will become hostile, and maul her to death.** A more complex example: there is a special reward a player can get for avoiding [[spoiler: killing any cats, even hostile ones]]. However, there [[LoopholeAbuse isn't a rule against]] [[spoiler: using a BalefulPolymorph to make it ''not'' a cat, leading it repeatedly over an acid trap, wearing a ring of fire resistance and placing yourself in between a cat and a fire-breathing lizard, or exposing it to TheCorruption until it becomes a twisted alien being]]. 'Course you may want to [[DemonicSpider avoid that last one]].*** Monsters killed by companions, familiars or undead minions are not on your conscience, as far as the game is concerned, which provides another simple workaround (simple at least for anyone with pets, available to any class but easiest for bards and necromancers).*** If you have a wand of trap creation, you can aim it right at the [[spoiler:cat]] and, if you get lucky, kill it instantly without penalty.** In another example, you can kill a beggar, poison the corpse then feed it to another beggar (which quickly kills the second beggar).** Bottom line in this game: you're free to attack anyone or anything if you so choose. This includes children, cowering near-dead foes, non-hostile passersby, etc.* VillainProtagonist: Your character is fully capable of worshipping Chaotic gods and performing quests in evil ways... and there is a specific ultra ending just for evil characters. You [[spoiler:go to the Chaos Plane and fight the Ultimate Chaos God]] just like in the goody-good ultra endings... and then [[spoiler:[[YouKillItYouBoughtIt kick his ass and take his place]].]]* WalletOfHolding: At some point you'll most likely find yourself lugging around tens of thousands of gold coins. They're light but not completely weightless, though.* WeaksauceWeakness: Gremlins are vulnerable to light; the Light spell is one of the easiest spells to learn. It doesn't do ''that'' much damage, but it's oh-so-satisfying to kill these otherwise annoying breeders by repeatedly ''turning the lights on''.** ''Andor Drakon, the [=ElDeR cHaOs GoD=]'', is vulnerable to [[spoiler:stunning, confusion, paralysis, and thrown potions of cure corruption]]. The last one is particularly effective, as it causes him to lose several of his attacks.* WhenTreesAttack: The Animated Forest is a level packed with animated trees, most of which won't bother you. However, some of them are hostile, and there's so many trees that all you can do is slowly push through the crowd. Trying to use fire is...inadvisable, to say the least.* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: Goes without saying.** "You are starving! You are starving! You are starving! You die..."* {{YASD}}: You will suffer this in ADOM if you just Attack Attack Attack, but even veterans aren't immune to forgetting to equip a weapon after dropping it on an altar. Other [=YASDs=]: accidentally using Fireball on your vastly more powerful companion; fighting ghuls without paralyzation resistance; coming across a greater mimic and trying to melee it; stepping onto a chaotic altar when an intelligent chaotic monster is nearby, kicking stairs to train your strength (no, seriously) and [[http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.games.roguelike.adom/browse_thread/thread/2e71604b9c927738/9a7e403341d4557d?lnk=gst many, many more]].%% YetAnotherStupidDeath is on this page as YASD %%* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: The description of the TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler: Andor Drakon, the [=ElDeR cHaOs GoD=]]]: "This beast defies any attempts to describe it."